As the Christmas shopping season arrives with Black Friday in the US, I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than camping outside of a store in order to buy stuff. Except for shooting, trampling or pepper-spraying your fellow shoppers in order to get at said stuff, of which there were many reported instances this year.

Battered & fried fish is usually a rare greasy indulgence for me. Cod can be rather flavourless, and often is more grease and crunch than fish. Not at The Crab Shop. The batter is crispy but not thick, and the cod tastes fresh and delicious. The fries are good too, and the homemade tartar sauce is divine. In fact, the fish & chips at River Market’s new Crab Shop is so good I couldn’t resist ordering it for lunch two days in a row.

I was lucky to win a couple of tickets to this years incarnation of Freelance Camp, an ‘unconference’ hosted by The Network Hub. It’s certainly a nice change to see an event promoting freelancing, networking, and technology come to little New Westminster.

The second annual Vancouver Freelance Camp ‘unconference’ is coming up Saturday, September 10, from 9am to 5pm, just a few days before The Network Hub’s grand opening at their brand new second location in New Westminster’s River Market.

With summer beginning, families are starting to enjoy Downtown New Westminster and the Waterfront and exploring the River Market. A very friendly family at Emilio’s Deli is really making people smile, reintroducing them to the Market and starting to introduce themselves. People smell the fresh variety of cheeses and meats, but the also see and hear the friendly father and his sons getting to know people.

Bloom Art Studio at River Market is a safe place for kids to get messy – without driving parents crazy. At home, I like to craft with the kids, but I’m always a little leery of anything truly messy. It’s fun, but I always worry about the cleanup. In a space like Bloom, the kids are free to play with colour and form in a space that’s designed to handle mess.

The $5-million reno of the dilapidated old Quay is unquestionably beautiful. But since the shiny new River Market opened with much fanfare last November, many New Westminster folk whocame to see the new building were disappointed to find only a grocery store, a circus school and a lot of empty storefronts. Others (like me) were more willing to give River Market some time to find its feet. I’m happy to say River Market’s got some welcome news: coffee is coming, and a lot more too.

Tucked away next to the escalators inside River Market, Great Wall Tea packs a lot of taste into a tiny space. While initially I was disappointed not to have a coffee shop open at the Quay, the silver lining is that this has encouraged me to expand my hot drink habits and try tea instead.

Today was the big reveal of Donald’s Market at River Market. On the first day of snow at the beginning of the great winter of 2010/2011, more than half way through November, we all finally got to see what Mark and his team from River Market have been building.

A while back we partnered with River Market to host the P.S. New West poetry contest. River Market selected the winners and gave them the prizes, but their email to me with the winners’ names got lost in my email inbox. I just rediscovered the note today (oops). My inbox is a scary, scary place. Anyway, a bunch of you have been asking me about the winners, and here (belatedly) is who won. Sorry about the delay!

New Westminster toy store Pedagogy Toys has been saved from closing thanks to a show of support from the community and a well-timed offer of skookum new digs in River Market at the Quay. Like so many other New West parents, I’m a fan of Pedagogy Toys, and so I wanted to find out more from owner Karen Smecher about the move from Sapperton to the Quay. Karen kindly agreed to answer a few questions via email:

From the River Market renovations to the cheap rent, here’s one woman’s top 10 reasons why she loves living in New West. What would you put on your list?

River Market’s grocer may not officially open its doors until September, but the team behind the market’s renaissance is already reaching out to the New Westminster community. The market’s ambition reaches beyond milk, bread and bok choy. It is to be a place of culture and community, a place of inspiration. It begins with a simple contest in collaboration with Tenth to the Fraser called P.S. New West.

By now we’ve all heard the big news; Donald’s Market is coming to the River Market at the Quay. However if you’re like me (and everyone else I’ve spoken to except one person), your first reaction was, “What’s Donald’s Market?” I had to take a field trip to answer this question. So over the past two weekends I jumped on the Skytrain, shopping bags in hand, to visit each of the Donald’s locations. First up, Commercial & 8th Avenue.

River Market just sent out the following information, via its e-newsletter. I’m copying the text here, for our readers who are not subscribed

As announced at the last New West Downtown Residents Association meeting, tomorrow is the ‘big reveal’ of the River Market‘s anchor grocer, and an equally mysterious top-secret program called ONE.
We’ll find out what it’s all about tomorrow, but until then, let’s have a little fun. If you’d like a spot on the guest list at an exclusive VIP launch party courtesy of River Market and Tenth to the Fraser, leave a comment on this post with your best guess about what ‘ONE’ could be.
Here’s a hint: a Tenth to the …

For years we have lived in the shadow of construction cranes towering over Columbia St., and this promised revitalization has not yet come. Yet I think this long-overdue hope will soon be realized, as we approach a critical mass of major development projects and an accompanying demographic shift that really will have the power to transform New Westminster’s downtown.

I knew the new owners of the Quay market were looking to do things differently, but I never expected this. 
The River Market at the Quay is now offering classes from the Vancouver Circus School in Aerial Silk, Swinging Trapeze, and Aerial Arts. The circus director is Aaron Johnson, who was an acrobatic coach for Cirque Du Soleil, and (according to the River Market newsletter) has “strong roots in New West.”
The Market’s renovations are still ongoing, and are not expected to be complete until late 2009. Holding on through the renos are:

Top Gun Sushi
Paddlewheeler …